Information-based problem solving

I've used concept maps since 2005 to visualize ideas and resources that I've been aggregating and sharing since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago in 1993 (and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011). 

Open the one below and look at all the challenges facing kids and families in high poverty areas.  Most of these affect all of us, but more affluent people have greater resources to cope with these challenges. 

When I first became a volunteer tutor/mentor in 1973 I knew little about what I was supposed to do. However, I began to look for ideas that inspired my weekly connections with a 4th grade boy named Leo.  In 1975, when I became the volunteer leader of the tutor/mentor program hosted at the Montgomery Ward headquarters in Chicago, I expanded this process of learning, to find other tutor/mentor programs who I could borrow ideas from.

When we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 we developed a 4-part strategy, shown on the concept map below.

Step #1 focuses on collecting and sharing information that others can use.  Step #2 focuses on increasing public awareness so more people use the information we collect and Step #3 focuses on helping people find and use the information collected in Step #1.   Step #4 is motivating people to use that information and their own resources to help organized tutor, mentor and learning programs reach more K-12 kids in high poverty areas with on-going support that helps them move through school and into adult lives.

Below are a few concept maps that show how to apply this information in on-going, information-based problem solving.  

At the center of the concept map below is a graphic showing use of information to fight the war on poverty. 

At the far right my graphic focuses on building "great programs in each neighborhood" and the need to "organize and train" volunteers, donors and leaders.   At the far left are graphics that show a need to build "public commitment" and to "influence" resource providers, not just non-profit leaders, youth and volunteers.  At the bottom of these nodes are links to other articles and other maps.  

Below is another concept map that focuses on the on-going planning and action cycle.

Follow this from left to right.  Planning starts with choosing a "place" where a problem (or opportunity) exists that you want to focus on.  Then draw people together and begin to look at information available that builds a deeper understanding of the issue and shows how other people in different places area already trying to address this issue.  The whole idea is to "not reinvent the wheel, or start from scratch" but to learn from others and innovate your own solutions based on what you learn, and what your own experiences are.

As you put together a plan, and try to implement it, build in tools to collect information that shows what works, what does not work, why, and how you might make it work better.  As you end one cycle you are already starting a new one, adding what you have learned from your own efforts and what you are constantly learning from others.

Visualize your goals, what success looks like, and steps to get from where you are now, to where you want to be in the future.  I created the graphic below to emphasize this process. View in this article.

I actually added the STEMM annotation last year to emphasize how this graphic applies to STEMM 2050 goals, and included it in this article.  

While I focus my efforts on helping kids in high poverty areas, the challenges I point to applied to people throughout the world, rich, and poor. 

The 4-part strategy that we piloted since 1993 can be applied in any place, to any issue.

Below is another concept map, which points to a section of my library that ANYONE can use to try to solve complex problems.

The nodes on this concept map point to collaboration, process improvement, knowledge management, innovation, mapping and visualization sub-categories in the Tutor/Mentor library.  These are ideas from around the world, from business, universities, non-profits, and others that give tips on solving problems.  Make it a regular resource.

I started this blog in 2005 and have posted more than 1000 articles since then.  If you're in a university you could create a graduate level curriculum just using this blog and the links I point to.  I've you're a donor like MacKenzie Scott, I wish you'd provide funding to incent one or more universities to take this role.  

It really does not matter what your formal role is. You can bookmark this site and return to it often, just like faith leaders return to their scripture, to build a deeper, and deeper, understanding of these ideas.

Thanks for reading. I hope you find this useful.  And thank you to those who have visited my Fund T/MI page and sent a contribution to help me do this work.

I share links to these posts on many social media platforms and find new ideas that I add to the library.  I hope you'll connect with me and share my posts with your own network.  

Examples of Tutor/Mentor Library

In today's article I'm going to show two examples of the type of information that's in the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web library.

Below are two concept maps, creating using free cMapTools:

The first is an outline of the Our Kids book written in 2013 by Dr. Robert Putnam.  click here to view.

Putnam focuses on social capital and how "benefits accrue to kids born in affluent areas" and "negatives accrue to kids born in low income areas".  I outlined the book and point to articles on this blog and my library that expand on this idea and show volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs to be an ideal strategy for expanding bridging social capital and narrowing the impact of "where you were born" for kids born in low income areas. 

The second is an outline of a book titled Uncharitable, written by Dan Pallotta. click here to view

Pallotta offers challenging ideas for how social sector organizations should operate and be funded, focusing on "if you want charities to do important work you need to change how they are funded."  Links from different nodes in the concept map point to sections of the tutor/mentor library with information related to philanthropy and fund raising. 

Thus, a big part of the library focuses on building and sustaining constantly improving tutor/mentor programs that have a quantum impact on the lives of kids in poverty, as well as volunteers who become part of their lives via organized programs.  

Next I'm showing three map-based information platforms.

First is the Georgia Statewide AfterSchool Network website and data map.  

Take time to browse this site and see all the information that's available to help leaders support the growth of high quality afterschool programs throughout Georgia.  A second map on the site is a program locator. 

Next is the 50 State Afterschool Network map, funded by the C.S. Mott Foundation. 

Run your mouse over each state and the afterschool network for that state is shown, with a link to a page with extensive information, and a link, to that network.

So, I clicked into Washington State, then followed the links to the Elevate Washington website that has a map-directory showing afterschool programs in that state. 

I added links to both sites to this section of the tutor/mentor library, where I point to afterschool networks and resources.  I've another section with "program locators and directories" where I could have put these links. 

Anyone in the country could be viewing these links with the goal of finding ideas and "best practices" that they could apply to help youth tutor/mentor and afterschool programs grow in their own state.

That's the goal of the library.  

As one person gets to know what's in the library they can share links with other people, who do the same.  In this way it becomes a "learning resource" available to anyone in the world who is committed to helping reduce poverty, violence, inequality and many other problems by providing more support to kids in high poverty areas as they grow from birth to work.

I keep looking for people who will share ownership of the library, provide funds, and even rebuild it, to make the information easier to find and to fix broken links and continually add new information.

So far no one has stepped forward to take this role, so I'll just "keep on, keeping on."  However, I'll be 76 in December and that means for the library to remain available, someone(s) need to begin to take ownership.  

I'm still using Twitter. Here's a set of posts that show some good reasons why I plan to stay.  I'm also on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram and have re-started my Mastodon account.  I hope you'll reach out and connect with me.

I'm also seeking contributions to help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. Click here if you want to help. 

Thanks for reading. 

Navigate the Tutor/Mentor Resource Library

Last week I started an article with this "birth-to-work" graphic, then shared concept maps that are intended to guide learners through the library I've built since the 1990s.

Below are a couple more concept maps intended to support this learning journey.

The first is a hack of the Monopoly game.  I mixed the letters to create YOM-POLOM (Youth Organizations Need Purposeful Ongoing Leadership and Operating Money).  

Open the concept map and zoom in to view the individual squares, and the links that take you from any square to a specific part of the Tutor/Mentor library.  I introduced this game board in this 2015 article. 

The second concept map shows sections of the Tutor/Mentor library.  

I created these using cMapTools and encourage others to create and share their own versions focusing on their own cities if they are not in the Chicago region.

The information from these concept maps and others in my collection is intended to support what people in business, philanthropy, religion, education, media, entertainment and other sectors do to help make well-organized, mentor-rich, non-school tutor, mentor and learning programs available to K-12 youth in more high poverty areas, and to help those programs constantly learn from each other so that all can do more to help kids move from birth-to-work and lives free of concentrated poverty.

I've been writing this blog since 2005 and have hosted a website since around 1998. I started creating visualizations to help people understand the strategies I was piloting and have shared these in printed newsletters, blogs, social media, Pinterest, etc. for almost 30 years. 

They all invite people to gather and learn from the ideas I'm sharing with one goal:  "How can we do t his better?"  

As we start a new week, in the second month of a new year, I keep looking for others who are asking the same questions and who use web platforms, maps and visualizations to draw others into this conversation and to encourage on-going actions that help youth programs reach more kids with constantly growing impact. 

You can find my social media platforms in this link.  I look forward to connecting to you and your own ideas and efforts. 

Birth-to-Work Goal and Use of Knowledge Base

I'm going to show four graphics from my collection in this article.  I hope you'll take time to dig through the links.

1) This graphic shows three time frames when we can connect with kids and the number of years we need to be doing this. 

It shows a group of kids and an adult volunteer who were part of a tutor/mentor program I led in Chicago in the 1990s and myself with one of those kids in 2010 when she came back as a guest speaker at our end-of-year dinner. I'm connected to almost all of these former students and the volunteer on Facebook and now see them posting stories of their own kids finishing high school and going to college.  That's the generational impact possible from well-organized volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs who build and sustain long-term connections with kids.

I focus on the after-five PM timeframe because in big cities like Chicago, that's when workplace volunteers are more able to meet with kids in community locations on a weekly, on-going basis. 

2) This next graphic includes a Birth-to-Work arrow that I've used in many past articles and in a variety of graphics. I show many in this Pinterest collection.  

This graphic includes a map of Chicago, showing high poverty areas were kids need mentoring-based support during school and non-school hours, from pre-school through high school and beyond.  Click on the image to enlarge and look at some of the types of activities that could be made available to kids at different age levels.  If you were to stand the arrow on end, like a tall building, it would emphasize how these supports are needed consistently for 10-20 years, in every neighborhood with high levels of poverty, meaning too few people to model the wide range of career choices kids have, and to help them through school and into those opportunities. Volunteers in organized tutor/mentor programs can help make some of these learning opportunities available, even if they are not available in local schools. 

I started building a library in the 1970s to support the volunteers in the tutor/mentor program I led at the Montgomery Ward Headquarters in Chicago. When we created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 we systematically expanded that library and made it available to program leaders throughout Chicago (before the internet) and then to volunteers, donors, policy-makers and program leaders throughout the world (starting in 1998, with the Internet). 

3) This concept map shows how we created events throughout the year to draw users to the information, and how we hoped the information would be used.

Read the map starting in the  upper left, with the box that says "T/MC Research (Info IN)". Across the top we show ways we share the information on an on-going basis since 1993. The columns from left to right show the type of information that's in the library and "formal" and "informal" uses of the information.  It's all intended to help well-organized volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs be available to K-12 kids in more places.  That means it has to be used by donors, policy-makers, business, media, universities and more who need to take proactive, and on-going roles, to help tutor/mentor programs have the resources and talent needed to constantly improve. 

Access the library at this link. 

I started reaching out to leaders of other tutor/mentor programs in Chicago in 1974 and continued through the 1980s. I was looking for ideas to support my own efforts. This began to turn into a networking effort where each program was learning from the others. 

From my retail advertising jobs I knew how we created weekly advertising intended to draw customers to our 400 stores in 40 states, and how other corporate office teams worked to help each store have the staff and merchandise needed to serve those customers and keep them coming back.

I applied this in my leadership of a single program, and applied this strategy via the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present).  Since I did not have many dollars for advertising I created a strategy of quarterly annual events that would draw media attention and focused on ways business, universities and others could use their own human capital and dollars to help programs grow in different places.

4) I created this concept map to help people understand the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Follow the path from the left side of the concept map, downward, to understand the Tutor/Mentor Connection. Follow the path at the right, starting with "as a result of our efforts" to see ways others can use the information and ideas we've been collecting and sharing.  As you go through this learning path, begin executing the strategy, by using your own media to draw attention to tutor/mentor programs in Chicago or in other places.  

Here's a video, created in 2015 by an intern from South Korea, to guide people through this concept map.  It is an example of how anyone reading my articles can create and share their own interpretation. 

I share these graphics and articles from my blogs on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook (find links here) and website and monthly eMail newsletter. 

Maintaining this library and my outreach is an on-going effort.  I keep inviting others to do the same.  

Unfortunately, the problems that we were addressing in the 1970s are still present as we move through 2022. Thus, the work I've been doing needs to continue. 

I just turned 75 so it becomes more and more important that a university or institution reach out and take ownership of my archives, blogs, websites, etc.  Student, faculty and alumni talent can do much more than I to update, analyze and share the information and draw attention and resources to area youth programs.

They can rebuild the sites that are now only archives and innovate new efforts to build public will and draw attention through the maps to EVERY neighborhood that needs Birth-to-Work support for its kids.  Reach out to me if you're interested in taking this role, or helping me find someone who will.

There were only 4 graphics in this article. There are more than 100 on this and other blogs. Take your time reading and thinking about what I'm sharing. Invite others to join you.  Create your own versions and share your interpretations, as my intern from South Korea did. 

Thanks for reading and sharing. 

Role of Leaders in Birth-to-Work

Today on Twitter I shared this graphic showing three of my concept maps. I put numbers on the maps so I could refer to them in my Tweet and in this article.

These three are the top tier of my collection of cMaps, which you can find at this link.   Let's look closer.

Below is the strategy map.  I explain its components in this article.

If you follow the lines to the left and the right it shows a goal of helping kids born in poverty move safely through school and into jobs and careers by their mid 20s.  This is a goal that any leader can adopt. It's not a strategy with any single leader, or where everyone is following my lead.  It's a shared vision, showing steps anyone can take to help kids in every high poverty area in the country (and the world).

I shared it with the Presidents of the 12 Federal Reserve Bank in this Tweet.

I'm watching a new #RacismandtheEconomy webinar now. This is Tweet I posted in July following another webinar. In five years what might be the result if all 12 @federalreserve banks put a version of this concept map on their websites in 2022. In 10 years? https://t.co/VDPWF5nQRQ

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) November 16, 2021

Any leader can create their own version, putting their picture and/or company logo in the blue box at the top of the concept map, then sharing it on their own website.

In the middle of the graphic I point to the "mentoring kids to careers" concept map (#1 on the graphic), which you can find if you open the node at the 3 o'clock point of the strategy map. 

This cMap shows supports all kids need as they move through elementary school, to middle school, high school, college or vocational training, then into jobs and careers.  Kids in high poverty areas don't have access to all of these supports.  Adults who get involved in their lives, as tutors, mentors, coaches and teachers can be advocates who help motivate others to make these supports available in different places.  

Businesses who invest in tutor/mentor programs and encourage employee involvement can be strategically pulling kids through school and into jobs in their industries. Too few do this in enough places, or starting when kids are in elementary school where learning motivation and critical thinking skills begin to develop. 

Imagine if the Presidents of each Federal Reserve Bank adopted this commitment in 2022. Much would look different in 2027, 2032 and 2037 if they embraced the strategy and encourage leaders in other sectors to do the same.

Then I point to the 4-part strategy map (#2), which can be found if you open links from the middle node on the strategy map.  

In this article I describe the four steps shown on this concept map.   Step 1 focuses on collecting and sharing information that anyone can use to build and sustain needed programs that help kids through school and into adult lives.   I've been building a web library since before the Internet, from the 1970s when I started looking for ideas I could use to be an effective tutor/mentor, or support youth and volunteers in an organized non-school program.  We formalized the information collection process in 1993 when we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection.  

The web library contains my list of Chicago non-school tutor/mentor programs. It also points to a list of other youth programs beyond Chicago.  It includes an additional 2000 links pointing to research about where and why kids need extra support, to tips on building and sustaining programs, and finding money to fund programs.  Among the links I point to the Federal Reserve Bank #RacismandtheEconomy website.  (I'm currently migrating the library to a new hosting platform).  

You can see a list of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks at this site.  

Below is the featured Racism and the Economy page from the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank website.  I had to dig through the site to find this page. It's included in "events" but not in "research". 

Below is the events page from the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank. Note that two images point to the RacismandtheEconomy webinars.  However, it's not mentioned in the research page on the website.

I don't point to each of the 12 banks in my library, but maybe I should. It looks like they each collect and share their own research, based on their own priorities.  And, they give different emphasis to the RacismandtheEconomy webinars.  However, my goal is not to have links to "everything" on my website, but to point to other websites who aggregate information about specific topics, or specific groups of organizations.  Thus, I'd encourage each of the Reserve Banks to point to the research and events pages on each other's websites.

Here's the good news! Each Reserve Bank is doing Step 1 (collect & share information) and Step 2 and Step 3, which focus on increasing the number of people who look at the information, and help people understand it, and what solutions need to be implemented to improve the economy and quality of life for all Americans. 

The only thing the don't seem to do is Step 4, which points people to places where they can apply what they learn and support organizations with time, talent and dollars.

This graphic shows a shared goal of "helping kids safely through school and into adult lives" at the top and an extensive information base at the bottom.

While I aggregate links in my library, others are doing the same, but not with a duplication of information collected. Thus, leaders who adopt the strategy map can also adopt the commitment to collecting and sharing locally relevant information.

What should be included in information libraries?  The concept map below might offer some guidance.

This map shows a wide range of challenges facing all families, but that people in high poverty areas have fewer resources to overcome the challenges and face additional barriers not common in more affluent areas.  Research libraries should focus on each node in this map, showing what the problems are, where they are most concentrated, and how some people are solving the problems in some places, which are ideas to stimulate creative solutions in many other places.

Solutions should use maps to assure a distribution of resources, and solutions, to EVERY PLACE, where the maps indicate that people  need extra help.

That's the purpose of the library. Learn from what others are already doing rather than start over from scratch.  At the heart of each library should be lists of organizations, like my Chicago tutor/mentor program list, who need to be continuously supported in order to do needed work.

Many leaders are already doing part of this strategy. I point to hundreds of websites with research sections on their libraries. I point to many who are holding events to draw attention to that information. I love how the Federal Reserve Bank presidents took an active role in these webinars and how they encouraged people to post questions and ideas at #racismantheeconomy.  

I asked, "do these presidents personally review the Tweets that are posted."  I received the response below from Raphael Bostic, President of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank.

Hi @tutormentorteam, I definitely look at posted tweets. I want to know how engaged folks are reacting to the information and views that are shared.

— Raphael Bostic (@RaphaelBostic) November 17, 2021

That's encouraging and it's a great example of what other leaders can be doing. 

Note. As I write this I'm watching today's To&Through Chicago webinar, talking about using maps and data.  

Tomorrow at 11 AM CT, join us for a panel discussion with leaders from @MAPSCorps, @ChiTrust, and @LISCChicago that are leveraging data tools to improve education. RSVP for this discussion here: https://t.co/I6YmmRtcfc

— To&Through Project (@UChiToThrough) November 16, 2021

This webinar recording will be available on the To&Through website. I encourage leaders to view it.

By writing about this on my blog, Tweeting about it, and including these in my web library and eNewsletter I'm modeling what other people might do.

Since there's so much information on my site and I've been thinking about this for nearly 40 years I don't expect anyone to do a quick read and understand everything.  That's why I encourage leaders to appoint people who dig deeper into my websites then share what they learn via their own blogs or videos.  If you view this site, you'll see that I had interns doing this for many years. 

Imagine if the Federal Reserve Bank, or any foundation or philanthropist, launched a funding program that encouraged youth in every city and state to do similar work, helping make sense of all the information that's available in web libraries, and motivating a growing number of people to take actions regularly that build and sustain needed solutions, in many places, for many years. 

I describe this idea here.

Thanks for reading this far. It's a long article focusing on a complex problem.

I'm on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (see links  here) and hope you'll follow me and share my posts with others. I'd be happy to connect via ZOOM and discuss these ideas with you.

If you value what I'm sharing, consider helping me with a  year-end contribution.  Read more here.

Thank you.  

 

Building knowledge-based ecosystem

I'm fascinated by their potential for bringing people together in ways that's not possible face-to-face. I've wanted to build this capacity into the Tutor/Mentor Connection for more than 25 years. 

I and six other volunteers created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 to "gather and organize all that is known about successful non-school tutoring/mentoring programs and apply that knowledge to expand the availability and enhance the effectiveness of these services to children throughout the Chicago region."

It's 2021. I'm still leading that effort, via the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

1998 Crain's Chicago Business

I'd been leading a tutor/mentor program in Chicago since 1975 when we formed the T/MC. So I already had an extensive database of other programs in Chicago, as well as of foundations, businesses, volunteers and media. We did our research and planning, and developed a 4-part strategy in 1993. Then, we launched our first Chicago tutor/mentor program survey in January 1994 to systematically learn who else was offering non-school tutor and/or mentor services.

As we started reaching out to learn about programs we began sharing what we were learning with other programs, and with resource providers and other stakeholders, via printed newsletters. We began drawing stakeholders together to share and learn from each other via organized conferences in May 1994 and started organizing an annual Aug/Sept Chicagoland Tutor/Mentor Volunteer Recruitment Campaign in 1995.  You can view the goals of the conference here. See recruitment campaign history here.

We began sharing our list of Chicago tutor/mentor programs in a printed directory in 1994, but never circulated more than 500 copies a year. As we put our library on line in 1998, we also put our list of programs on line.

In 2004 we were able to launch an on-line portal where people could search for information about Chicago area tutor and mentor programs by zip code, type of program and age group served. In 2008 we launched a map based version of this.

With the maps we could show all the places where programs were needed, as well as what places already had service from existing programs.  Thus, our conversations were focused on a) helping existing programs get a more consistent flow of resources needed to constantly improve, while b) helping new program start where more are needed, borrowing ideas from existing programs, rather than starting from scratch.

The conferences and annual recruiting events we organized helped us generate a flow of print news stories, drawing attention to tutor/mentor programs throughout Chicago, not just to our own program (which I led until mid 2011). While we stopped our printed newsletter in 2002 we've been sending email newsletters every month since 2000. With our maps we crated map-stories following negative news, in an effort to draw more attention and resources to neighborhoods where help was needed.

I created this concept map many years ago to visualize how we were building a library of information that anyone can use to a) build and sustain volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in high poverty areas; and b) understand root causes that created a need for tutor/mentor programs and placed challenges that made it more difficult to move safely from birth to work; so (c) more people who first became involved as tutors or mentors would become involved in building solutions that reduced, or removed, these systemic barriers.

Below I'm showing some elements of this concept map.

When I first created this chart I only included information that people could use to build and sustain volunteer-based tutor and mentor programs. (#1) on the graphic.  I updated that with the set of green boxes (#2) showing that the Tutor/Mentor library includes a much wider range of information about poverty, racism, inequality, challenges of funding, ideas for learning, and ideas for collaboration, knowledge management, etc.

Just getting a youth into a tutor/mentor program is often not a powerful enough influence to assure a successful  journey from birth-to-work. In high poverty areas there a many systemic barriers that need to be reduced, or removed.  Getting more people personally involved in the work needed to understand, then remove the barriers, can be one by-product of getting more  people involved as tutors/mentor and leaders in organized youth programs.  My own 40 year journey is an example of that.

The right side of the concept map shows two forms of learning, one formal, and the other informal.  Each are intended to support volunteer involvement that leads to a better understanding of the information in the library and the growth of more and better tutor/mentor programs in places where they are most needed.  

It also results in more people working to create systemic changes where those are needed.

Now look at the line across the top of the concept map.

Building the library is an on-going process, but it's only the first step in our 4-part strategy.  Getting people to look at the information in the library is an advertising and public awareness effort.  

Thus we published our list of programs in a printed directory from 1994-2002, then in an on-line map based directory through 2018. It's now available in an on-line list and a Chicago programs map.  I've used newsletters, blogs, social media, along with conferences and media events to draw attention to the library.

We began to use GIS maps in 1993 to show where tutor/mentor programs were most needed and where existing site-based programs were located.  We also started a "rest-of-the-story" strategy using maps to show where media stories focused on incidents of violence, or locations of poorly-performing schools.  We used these to who what assets (business, university, hospital, etc.) were in the area where the incident took  place, who could help tutor/mentor programs grow. This was part of our effort to draw greater attention to programs throughout the city.

We (#3) then organized May and November conferences to draw programs together to learn from each other and to provide information to help support volunteers and students in every program. This information was part of on-going formal and informal learning.  We organized annual August/September Chicagoland Tutor/Mentor Volunteer Recruitment campaigns to help programs find volunteer talent.  

Finally, we repeated this for 20 consecutive years.  

At the top right of the concept map I show events that we created in August, November and May to draw programs together and draw attention and resources directly to programs.  The May and November conferences were held every six months for 20 years. The Volunteer Recruitment campaign was a multiple-site event every year from 1995 to 2003 and has been an on-line activity, drawing attention to our on-line lists of Chicago area programs continually since 2003.

Ultimately my goal is that people from different sectors and different places are forming study and learning groups which draw from information libraries they find on line. While these groups engage in on-going face-to-face learning, they also engage in on-line conversations, with each other, and with people in other groups, expanding their  understanding of problems and solutions and building relationships with people who who might help...

....all with the goal of filling high poverty areas with needed programs and services that help kids move safely through school and into adult lives, jobs and careers  (see strategy map).

If you've read this far, thank you! I hope you'll visit some of the links and build your own understanding of the strategy I've piloted.  I hope you understand how this supports my own on-going learning and efforts to do "better today than I was able to do yesterday". 

While there are many intermediary  organizations in Chicago and around the country who focus on youth well-being and do some of the things the Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC, have piloted, I don't yet see anyone including all of these steps, supported by a library with as much information as is included in the Tutor/Mentor Library.

Nor do I find anyone using concept maps as extensively as I have since 2005 to visualize strategy, process and information available.  

Yesterday the Ryan Family made a $480 million commitment to Northwestern University.  I dream of someone making a $100 million commitment to build a Tutor/Mentor Connection in every major city, supported by student/alumni teams from a local university.

That needs to happen soon so I can pass on all of my archives and enable people to build from what I've started, rather than start from scratch.  

If you'd like to help make such a community a reality, let's connect.

Case for Business Investment in Tutor/Mentor Programs

I created graphics like the one at the left to visualize the 12 years of constant support needed to assure that more kids born or living in high poverty areas are in jobs with networks of support by their mid 20's.

You can find examples like this in many of my blog articles.  Most of these focus on non-school, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs as an important resource.  They provide on-going benefit to youth and to the volunteers who get involved.  

They need constant support and that's the problem for most, who are relatively small and don't have staff for advertising, public relations, fund raising, etc.  Thus, I've created a series of concept maps showing why businesses should support such programs. Below is one:

Here's the link to the cMap.

Creating these is only one step in an on-going process. Sharing them and increasing the number who view them, then use them, is actually much more difficult, since I've never had the advertising budget to build awareness for them.  

So I've been sharing them via my Twitter feed and on Facebook and Linkedin.  Below is a Tweet thread posted in the past few days.

This #conceptmap shows a commitment that many leaders need to make to help kids in poverty move from #birthtowork. I've circled a section that opens to a map showing reasons business should adopt this. Start here. https://t.co/lHeYxjMhtr pic.twitter.com/HZoFFP9fAW

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 3, 2021

Take a look.  Share the concept maps and my blog articles with others. Use 

for your own learning and leadership and create your own versions to share with others.

I don't need a huge advertising budget if every day one, or many, are reading these articles and sharing them with others.

Visit this page to find my social media links.

Visit this page if you'd like to make a contribution to help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. 

Want to Duplicate Tutor/Mentor Connection?

This story was in the Chicago Tribune in 1995, talking about the "Master Plan" the Tutor/Mentor Connection (which I created in 1993) had for saving kids in Chicago.

I've spent 27 years developing this strategy and trying to educate others so they would support it in Chicago and adopt it in other cities. Below is a presentation I created for the 1997 President's Summit for America's Future, which was held in Philadelphia. 

Master plan for saving Chicago youth - 1997 version from Daniel Bassill

 While there are many articles on this blog, and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website, that describe what I've been trying to do, here are two concept maps to view.

a) 4 part strategy 

The concept map at the right visualizes a 4-part strategy that I've piloted since 1993. Step 1 involves collecting and organizing information, or creating the knowledge base. Step 2 and Step 3 involve motivating a growing number of people to visit the library regularly and helping them find what they are looking for and understand how to apply the information in Step 4, different places where youth and families would benefit from organized, on-going, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs. Here's one article where I explain the four steps. 

b) layers of information on a program locator map.  

This concept map shows the 4-part strategy steps a different way, as layers of information on a map. 

View this concept map from left to right. The first step is creating a base map of the geographic region, like Chicago area, that you want to focus on.  Then add data layers showing indicators of need, like poverty levels, segregation, health disparities, school performance, etc.  Then add a layer showing organizations who are working to reduce those problems. In my case that would be non-school, volunteer-based tutor and/or mentor programs. The next layer would show assets, like banks, insurance companies, hospitals, faith groups, universities, etc. who could be helping youth programs grow in parts of the city where they have facilities.  This article explains this in more detail and points to a platform we built in 2008.

To duplicate what I've been doing for the past 27 years, you'd do the following:

a) start collecting research articles about poverty, inequality, education, etc. including those with maps that show the entire Chicago region (or your community) and where poverty is most concentrated

b) start building a list of services you feel are important to help kids and families grow out of poverty.  In my case, I focus on volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs, most of which operate in the community and in the non-school hours. You could choose a different type of service to support.

Note: I focus on services that need to be located near where families live, thus many would be needed in a big city like Chicago.  A Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy would be less needed to support services where only one, or two, organizations might be needed for the entire city. 

c) start a media and public awareness campaign to draw attention to this information, and to draw volunteers and donors to existing programs. With your list of programs you can invite them to come together for collaborative efforts, like networking conferences, which I hosted every six months from May 1994 to May 2015, or Back-to-School Volunteer Recruitment Campaigns which I started organizing in 1995.  If you can enlist a public relations firm, or communications volunteers, to help you, you'll be much more successful.  This campaign needs to be on-going and sustained for many years.

Note: while I operated a single program myself the goal of the T/MC was to draw needed attention and resources to every program in the city, recognizing that good programs are needed in many places, not just one or two. 

d) motivate people to spend time learning what's in the library, and how to use it to help tutor/mentor programs grow, and help kids move through school and into adult lives and jobs, then helping others find and use the information.

Without finding ways to draw growing numbers of people to the library, and helping them understand how to apply the information, it has little value. 

The first two steps steps above are part of Step 1 of the 4-part strategy.  The third point is Step 2. The fourth is Step 3. 

As you collect this information you are building a database of stakeholders. You can share what you're collecting with this group via newsletters, blog articles and websites and you can draw viewers to those resources via your posts on various social media channels, or via YouTube videos, etc.  

I've done all of this over and over for 27 years, using different tools as the technology has changed and as my resources have gone up and down.

You need a team to help you.

When I launched the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 I was also starting a new site-based tutor/mentor program. I had led a program serving 2nd to 6th grade kids since 1975, which had 440 kids and 550 volunteers participating weekly by spring 1992, so I had a wide pool of talent to draw on to help me launch the new program, and launch the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

I created the concept map at the right to visualize the range of talent needed to operate any non-profit, and to operate a Tutor/Mentor Connection.  If you already have a network and philanthropic and civic support when you launch your own version of this, you have much greater talent available to help you.  

If you're like me, a single person with a vision, but no source of consistent funding, you build from scratch and add to it from year-to-year based on what you are learning and the talent and resources you can find.  

Note: I don't think I would have succeeded in getting the Tutor/Mentor Connection started if I were not also leading a single program.  By operating a program I understood the benefits and the challenges. I also had a source of volunteers to help me do the work. The downside of this was that I was never able to give full attention to the T/MC and many donors could not see past our single program to appreciate the systems thinking of the T/MC.   

I was fortunate to have support from the Montgomery Ward Corporation who provide generous space for our program to operate and a $40,000 a year grant from 1993 to 2000 when they went out of business.  That $40k was 80% of our funding in 1993 and 30% in 1994 when we were just getting started.  Losing the donated space and funding in 2000 as the economy was declining was a huge negative impact. 

Thinking ahead to 2021 the reasons I had for starting the T/MC in 1993 are still with us. Thus, the work I've been doing still needs to be done by someone. Many do parts of what I do but almost no one does all four steps of the 4-part strategy, especially trying to help programs all over the city get needed resources. 

Since I already have a model in place, I encourage you to consider joining me. Help me upgrade it and make it work better in Chicago, then apply it in your own city.  The concept map below shows help needed at each step of the 4-part strategy. That help could come from any place in the world.

I had many people helping me build this strategy over the past 27 years. While I have far fewer helping now, I'm still supported by one person hosting the web library and others sharing my posts on social media and via their own blog articles. 

However, it's too little.  In a big city like Chicago this should have a budget of $300 to $500k annually. Between 1995 and 2011 I was able to raise $100 to $150k each year for the T/MC and a similar amount for our own tutor/mentor program. 

The inconsistencies of funding due to negative economic cycles what one of the big challenges that I've faced, and that you'd need to overcome.

The graphic at the right asks "What will it take to assure that all youth born or living in high poverty are entering careers by age 25?"

The information in the Tutor/Mentor web library, on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC site, and on this and the MappingforJustice blogs are intended to help people find answers to that question.  

As people begin to find their own answers I encourage them to put them on websites and add them to libraries like mine. Over time, this means we can learn from what others are doing rather than constantly starting over.  I encourage you to use concept maps, like blueprints, to show all that needs to be part of the birth-to-work journey, then call on your network to help figure how to find the money and talent to make those things available in every high poverty zip code.

A Tutor/Mentor Connection-type organization does all that I've described and creates strategy presentations and blog articles that share what it is learning with others.  

I'm on Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram. This page has links to those sites.  Please connect with me if you'd like to learn more and have me help you create a new Tutor/Mentor Connection in your city and/or in Chicago.  

In the meantime, if you have read this far, please consider a contribution to support my work.  There are two ways each December for you to help.

a)  support my 74th birthday campaign - click here

b)  contribute to the Fund T/MI campaign - click here